Heartbeat
by aussiebabe290
Summary: A Jake and Rachel oneshot- Jake wants to find the perfect way to ask the love of his life to marry him, and with the help of a troublesome little girl, does just that. AU, please read and review!


**Hellooooooo! Here I am- again. Bit of a backstory on this one- Rachel didn't have the abortion (season one), and her daughter Matilda is five years old. She is with Jake (everything else in the series so far has happened- the weddings, the death of Louise, the birth of Ruby ect.), and Jake, with the help of a troublesome little girl, is trying to find the perfect way to ask Rachel how to marry him. Read and review, please!**

**Love Rhyleigh xoxox**

**PS: 'Three call outs' is something I use with the kids I babysit. They're allowed to call out three times each once I put them down to bed- after that I ignore them unless it's an emergency. It works!**

* * *

"How do I look, babe?" Rachel Rafter checked with her five year old daughter, capping her lipstick and smiling at the little girl.

Matilda Rafter grinned, baring a newly formed hole in her teeth alignment. "You look really, really pretty! Jake's gonna think that, too".

"Are you ready for Aunty Sammy and Aunty Mel?"

There was a knock on the front door and Matilda bounded off to answer it.

"I guess that answers that question", Rachel said dryly, smiling at her little girl's enthusiasm.

Flinging the door open, Matilda grinned up at two of her three aunties- and possibly her two favourite people in the whole world. "Hi!" she squealed, launching herself into Sammy Rafter's arms. Sammy pressed little kisses to her niece's cheeks, making her giggle.

"Hey Til!"

"Hey Mattie!" Melissa Bannon laughed, tickling the little girl's stomach, making her squeal with laughter. "Ruby was so jealous she didn't get to have a sleepover with you!"

"A sleepover with both Ruby and Matilda would drive you two insane", Rachel observed, laughing to herself. She loved her baby sister, but her baby sister and her daughter was a bad combination. "Trust me- last weekend was one I'll never forget".

"Hey you!" Sammy grinned, hugging her sister in law. Melissa grinned at Rachel and Rachel laughed at their excitement- they had both doted on Matilda since she was a little girl.

"Okay", Rachel said, after greeting her sisters in law. "Jake and I will be back late, but I'm not sure how late. Mattie's eaten dinner, but there are chocolate Paddle Pops in the freezer that she can have while the movie's on. Her pyjamas are under her pillow, and there's a new DVD that Mrs Barton bought her on top of the cabinet. There are plenty of things for you two to eat, after she goes to bed- Matilda Grace, eight thirty. No later- don't fall for the puppy dog eyes, she's been staying up way too late the past week. She and Jake have some plan or something. Either way, they both ignore her bedtime".

"Where is Jake?" Melissa asked curiously.

"The bathroom", Rachel shrugged. "I'll be back in a minute".

She headed up the hallway, to retrieve her handbag, just as Jake came out of the bathroom. "Can someone help me with my tie?"

"You're a grown man, Jake", Sammy scolded teasingly. "You should be able to do up a tie!"

"Yeah, well, no one ever taught me!" he protested, handing Sammy the tie. Sammy laced it over his neck, knotting it and tightening it, straightening up. She patted his chest.

"Learn how to tie a tie, Jake".

"Thanks, Sam". Jake grinned gratefully at her. Then he knelt down to Matilda's level. "Hey muppet! Where Mummy?"

"She's making herself more pretty". Matilda rolled her eyes. "Like she can do that!"

"That's what I tell her all the time, Til". Jake grinned at the little girl's dramatics (that were so much like her mother), Sammy and Melissa gigging quietly to themselves. "What about the 'situation', Til? Think she's ready for that?"

Matilda nodded extravagantly. "She doesn't know a thing, Jake! I made sure".

"All systems go, then?" Jake asked the five year old seriously.

"All systems go!" Matilda repeated.

"So, what are we gonna do tonight?" Melissa checked.

"We're gonna watch my new Disney movie that Grandma Grace got me and play hide and seek and play with my Barbies!"

"Wow, that sounds like fun!" Jake said genuinely. "I wish I was doing that!"

"You'll have fun, Jake", Matilda said seriously. "Remember the plan?"

Jake had to laugh at the little girl's antics. "I remember the plan, Tilly. It was my plan, remember?"

"Oh yeah", she giggled sheepishly. Then she raised her voice. "It's gonna be magical!"

Rachel chose that moment to reappear. "What's my five year old shrieking about this time?"

"It's a secret", Matilda told her prissily.

"Fine then". Rachel pretended to be upset and ended the charade with a kiss to Matilda's forehead. "Don't give them too much grief, Tilly. Go to bed when Aunty Mel and Aunty Sammy tell you too- and only three call outs, remember?"

Matilda nodded seriously. "Love you!"

"Love you too, Til". Rachel kissed her again.

Jake knelt down to Matilda's level again. He pulled her in for a hug, just close enough to whisper in her ear. "I'm so nervous, Til".

"Good luck, Jake", Matilda whispered back.

Jake grinned before kissing her forehead. "Be good, muppet!"

* * *

The boat club was not the fanciest of all places- but it was where they felt comfortable. Jake and Rachel could wear their suits and dresses and still fit in with those wearing jeans and shorts. It was run by Rachel's younger brother Ben, and he always made sure they had the best service possible.

The entertainment in the club was amazing, as well. Ben had had bands play there before, and he often arranged trivia nights and karaoke. After Ruby was born, both Julie Rafter (the mother of all four Rafter children- Rachel, Ben, Nathan and Ruby) and Rachel hired babysitters for Ruby and Matilda, and the whole family went to the boat club for the karaoke night. The boat club was a Rafter family favourite, and Jake and Rachel had made it 'their' place.

"Hey Libby!" Rachel grinned, as her best friend came over to see them.

"Ooh, Jake, looking good!" she teased. "Nice, stud".

Jake blushed, a pink tinge on his cheeks. "Thanks, Lib".

"Where's Tilly?" George, Rachel and Libby's co-worker and Libby's boyfriend, wanted to know.

"At home terrorising her aunties", Rachel answered, sending Libby into a fit of giggles.

Exchanging a few more casual words, they separated. Jake and Rachel took their usual table, smiling at each other.

Rachel had met Jake when she was at one of the roughest points in her life. Right after the birth of her daughter.

She had left her drug addicted, alcoholic, abusive boyfriend- her first true love- two months before she found out about her impending pregnancy. Deciding to keep the baby was one of the toughest decisions she had ever made- knowing that, if she gave birth to the child, she would be forever haunted with memories of her past.

But when Daniel died from a drug overdose, when Rachel was one month away from giving birth, she knew it would be even harder.

The moment she held Matilda Grace in her arms, she knew she had made the right decision. The only thing that Matilda had inherited from Daniel Griggs was his dark hair- she was a spitting image of Rachel.

When Rachel first met Jake, she thought he was a bogan- and had told him that on many, many occasions.

And then he ended up working for her father, Dave. Everyone knew that Jake and Rachel belonged together- except for Rachel. She had fought him for months, but had given in to his charming behaviour when they were locked in a building site together. Rachel had been panicking over the fact that she wasn't with her daughter, and that she couldn't see her. Jake had comforted her, and Rachel had begun to fall for him.

So they had started a relationship- behind everyone's back. Not that the Rafter family would disapprove- they already considered Jake part of the family.

But what Rachel really wanted was for Jake to be the biological father of Matilda. When she saw her daughter, she was reminded of the suffering she went through with Daniel. Jake was the perfect father figure for Matilda- and when she was a little under eighteen months old, she had called him 'Daddy'. Rachel had fled, tears in her eyes.

And all Jake wanted was to call Matilda his daughter. He loved her just as much as Rachel, and had been living with both of them since Matilda was two. She had slipped up and called him 'Daddy' on several occasions, and all Jake wanted was for that title to be true.

* * *

"When are Sammy and Mel expecting us home?" Jake asked interestedly, as they left the boat club.

"I said late- and Mattie's asleep, I got a text ages ago, from Mel".

"Good", Jake sounded satisfied- even though he knew the troublesome little girl was probably faking it, in order to hear the results. "Want to go for a walk?"

Rachel shrugged. "Sure".

Hand in hand, the couple walked along the harbour, like they had hundreds upon hundreds of times in the past, until they reached the boardwalk. The boardwalk wasn't much- but it was everything in their relationship. It was where they had shared their first proper kiss, in the middle of the night- aside the night they spent together at the construction site. And the Rafters' shed.

But neither of them counted those as real kisses.

The whole way down the boardwalk, Jake patted his pocket, making sure what he needed was still there.

"Jake, are you okay?" Rachel wanted to know.

"I-I-I-" he stuttered.

He didn't think he had ever been that nervous in his entire life.

"Jake?"

Jake wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, nonchalantly wiping away the beads of sweat that had gathered on his forehead. Taking a deep breath, he withdrew the small object from his pocket and kneeled to the ground. Snapping open the velvet jeweller's box, he displayed a gorgeous diamond engagement ring.

"Rachel Rafter, will you marry me?"

Rachel blinked back tears of joy. She loved Jake more than anyone else in the world, and it would be an honour to become Mrs Jake Barton. "Jake..."

"Please just say yes", Jake positively begged.

Which was not part of the plan he went through with Matilda.

"Yes!"

The two met in the middle with a soft kiss, Jake sliding the ring on her finger.

"It's gorgeous!"

"Tilly helped me pick it out", Jake said proudly. "The girl has taste- and I bribed her with ice cream coz I dragged her to every single jeweller in New South Wales".

Rachel, laughing, fell into Jake's embrace, the warmth of his body encasing hers. Resting her head on his chest, she could hear his heartbeat, thumping away inside his body.

* * *

"We're back", Rachel called quietly, unlocking the door. "How was she?"

Sammy grinned from her position on the lounge. "Someone looks like the cat that got the cream".

"Did something magical happen, like your daughter predicted?" Melissa teased.

There was a thump from the end of the hallway and the little girl appeared, sleepy eyed. "Jake! Did you ask her?"

Jake lifted the child above his head, tickling her little tummy. "I asked her, Til!"

"Mummy, what did you say?" Matilda's once sleepy eyes were bright, her dark curls bouncing around her shoulders.

"I say that ice cream bribes work for little girls", Rachel laughed, showing off her ring. Matilda screamed and lunged into her mother's arms, Jake embracing them both in a hug.

He could feel their heartbeats- and their three hearts were beating as one.


End file.
